They are a funny old lot these Poms. Less than 10km from a besieged Gatwick Airport my countrified cousin's biggest concern is the low level of her garden pond this dry British summer.
She did muse it was fortunate her daughter had made a business trip to Basle, Switzerland, on Wednesday - and not yesterday - otherwise she'd have been "awfully late home for dinner from Heathrow".
Other than that the enormity of the United Kingdom being on Critical Alert virtually passed her by, as it did many other mid-morning shoppers in Surrey's Horsham, within easy bombing range of Gatwick.
"Life has to go on, dear, the war taught us Brits that," Barbara told me as she bought a shudderingly expensive pair of shoes.
The previous afternoon I had arrived at Gatwick - a trouble-free 40 minute train ride from North London.
Now the capital was in crisis and Gatwick, along with every other UK airport, was in turmoil as anti-terror officers foiled the plot to "commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale".
The lunchtime television news brought us scenes from Heathrow and Gatwick that Kiwis from our sheltered end of the world simply cannot countenance.
Chaos reigned inside and outside terminals. Despite pleas to stay away those stoic Brits continued to turn up in droves to catch planes that may now not fly for days.
If the all clear for individual airlines is given the prognosis is it could take until the middle of next week to move the passenger backlog.
At the height of the European holiday season the terrorists timing couldn't have been more disruptive with airspace at its busiest.
More than 1250 flights were scheduled out of Heathrow yesterday. Very few left.
Peter Hoddingshead, 72, from East London told me: "Well, we have to expect it really. It's the way the world is going. I went through the blitz - that came to an end but I had to admit I'm a bit anxious this won't".
He is not the only anxious one.
While would-be holidaymakers massed at the international terminals those in authority have never been so seriously concerned in public.
Their major fear is that despite more than 20 arrests they may not have netted all those whose life's purpose is to commit mass murder.
There were words of warning that worse could yet be to come.
It is reported that the arrests could be the first phase of "a very complex operation the remains very much alive".
Back in London via a station other than traffic-gridlocked Gatwick, it appeared to be very much British business as usual despite the country being described as under seige.
How much worse can it get than blowing up 10 passenger planes in mid air - possibly over the world's major cities?
Therein lies the question that only the terrorists have the answer to.
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